This is Public Service Appreciation Week. Have no doubt; there is no employee in state government more worthy of the public’s appreciation than DPA. I talk to a clients or providers every day. Are many of them frustrated by late benefits or decisions and concerned about help for their family or patient? Certainly they are. But, the people I talk to are also typically very grateful for the help and compassion they receive from staff.

As grateful as our clients may be, no one appreciates someone in public service more than their co-worker. What a grand team we have in DPA. Catch someone doing a good thing and praise them (there are tons of opportunities to say thank you around us every day).

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Another week of hard work that paid off with a bit of a drop in the overall backlog, and every bit counts. Staff made the most of protected time completing almost 5,000 actions during the prior week.

Meeting SNAP interview requirements has been challenging. To help alleviate some of that pressure, staff from Program Integrity and Work Services will soon be assisting with interviews. To support their efforts, field services developed an interview guide. A recent test of the guide was very positive with an experienced ET able to do 18 interviews in a day completing the majority of them.

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It is great to see the backlog of work drop for the second time this month! It is outstanding that, in addition to the backlogged work being processed, hundreds of Alaskans are still getting timely and accurate eligibility determinations and benefit issuances that help meet their basic needs. Keep on trucking!

Getting within federal and state timeframes for all applications is essential for the thousands of Alaskans that depend on DPA for food, shelter and health care. Furthermore, the backlog presents a risk of fiscal sanctions. Given the current budget crisis; it is a risk that must be avoided.

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Let’s do the numbers! As official master of the obvious, I’d like to point out, for the first time since December 2014, the total number of applications out of timeframes has dropped when compared to the prior week.

Way to go team! The Commissioner’s immediate response to news was to voice her gratitude for the incredible people doing the work that made the difference. So, on behalf of Val, Quyana caknek! Thank you very much!

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Pushing through this large workload must seem like a Sisyphean endeavor. However, unlike Sisyphus, doomed to eternity in Hades, when we find ourselves going through H-E-double hockey sticks, we don’t stop. We keep moving forward!

We can’t stop, because the work done by DPA is so meaningful for so many. It has purpose that motivates us to do the right thing. Every action taken and every conversation imbued with compassion and delivered with respect makes a difference to those we help whether they are clients or co-workers. I believe this sense of purpose is one of the things that inspire us to do the work. It is certainly one stimulus for the more than 300 DPA staff and helpers from other divisions who volunteered for over 100,000 hours of overtime between January and March.

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